F-35 deliveries resume, but upgrade delays have knock-on effects

RAF FAIRFORD, England — The U.S. military is once again taking delivery of Lockheed Martin’s newest F-35 Joint Strike Fighters after a year-long halt due to problems with upgrades to the fighter jets.

The first two F-35As loaded with a “truncated” or partial version of the Technology Refresh 3 upgrade software were delivered to the U.S. Air Force on Friday, the F-35 Joint Program Office said. One went to the Air National Guard’s 187th Fighter Wing at Dannelly Field, Alabama, the JPO said, and the other went to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.

But the long delay in the delivery of TR-3-equipped F-35s – and the fact that they will not be able to fly combat missions until 2025 – has had a knock-on effect on the air force’s deployment of the fighter jets in Europe, a senior general said Saturday.

“Don’t think the problems with the TR-3 are over,” Gen. James Hecker, commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, told reporters at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) air show here on Saturday. “We have a working software in the TR-3 that is absolutely good enough for training. … But there is more to be done.”

The F-35’s TR-3 upgrades include improved displays, computer memory and processing power. They are needed to lay the foundation for a broader F-35 modernization, known as Block 4, that will provide the ability to carry more weapons, better identify targets and improve electronic warfare capabilities.

The TR-3 effort was hampered by software problems and hardware production delays. Lockheed Martin originally had planned to have the TR-3 ready by April 2023. But by July 2023, when the first jets earmarked for the TR-3 rolled off the assembly line in Fort Worth, Texas, the upgrades still hadn’t been completed. The government refused to accept deliveries of the jets, and a backlog of undelivered jets began to grow in Fort Worth.

Lockheed Martin and the JPO devised a strategy to complete an interim version of the TR-3 software that worked well enough to fly a number of training missions and conduct the test flights necessary to get government approval to accept the aircraft.

But the F-35s with the shortened TR-3 software will not be able to fly combat missions until 2025, Lt. Gen. Mike Schmidt, executive officer of the F-35 program, said in the JPO statement.

Schmidt said the F-35 program is taking a “phased approach” to delivering these F-35s. Jets with initial training capability will be delivered in July and August, he said, and jets with a “robust combat training capability” will arrive in late August.

“We are focused on delivering aircraft to our customers that are stable, capable and easy to maintain, and this phased approach does that,” Schmidt said.

Andrew Hunter, the Air Force’s chief procurement officer, also said Saturday at RIAT that the F-35 will gain additional capabilities as software changes become available.

A Lockheed executive pledged to continue delivering upgrades to optimize the F-35s’ performance.

“TR-3 and Block 4 represent a critical evolution in capability and their full development remains a top priority for us,” Bridget Lauderdale, Lockheed Martin’s vice president and general manager of the F-35 program, said in the JPO statement. “These and future software updates throughout the life of the program will ensure the F-35 remains an effective deterrent and the cornerstone of joint all-domain operations, now and for decades into the future.”

There are now at least dozens of nearly completed F-35s parked in Fort Worth, though the government won’t say exactly how many. Hunter, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, wasn’t sure how long it will take to deliver all the backlogged jets, but said, “It’s not going to be overnight, that’s for sure.”

Deliveries of the Air Force’s F-35s continue, Hunter said, and the military is working with partner nations to ensure that those “critically dependent” on the delivery of their F-35s for operational needs are prioritized.

But the delay of the TR-3 will have consequences for the Air Force’s activities, procurement and subsequent upgrades of the F-35 in the coming years.

“We’ve been trying to get Block 4 of the F-35 for some time now, and it’s been significantly delayed,” Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said Saturday at RIAT, noting that TR-3 is the basis for the Block 4 upgrades.

The Government Accountability Office said in December 2023 that Block 4 was originally scheduled to be completed in 2026 at a cost of $10.6 billion. But as requirements for the F-35 evolved and the list of added capabilities to Block 4 grew, the cost rose to $16.5 billion and the schedule was pushed back to 2029.

Hunter said the team of contractors working with Lockheed Martin on the F-35 — including Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems and Pratt & Whitney — has made tremendous progress over the past year in breaking down the stovepipes that have separated their development processes. The increased collaboration helped complete the interim version of TR-3, he said, and should continue to benefit the program as work on Block 4 progresses.

The TR-3 delays were also a factor in the Air Force’s decision to scale back its F-35A procurement plan in the proposed 2025 budget, Kendall said. The service now plans to buy 42 F-35As in 2025, a reduction from its original plan to buy 48 jets next year.

And the TR-3 delay has led to a “slowdown” in the number of F-35s arriving at RAF Lakenheath, home to the air force’s two Europe-based F-35 squadrons, Hecker said. Hecker said fewer than a dozen F-35s intended for Lakenheath had been delayed.

He said the Air Force has slightly delayed production of new F-35 pilots so that existing F-35 pilots and maintenance teams can continue flying and maintain their readiness.

As the training-only TR-3 jets come on board, Hecker said, the Air Force will likely send them to training bases. Combat-capable F-35s that previously flew training missions at those bases will then be transferred to Lakenheath, he said.

And the U.S. military is still withholding some of the payments to Lockheed Martin until the updates are completed, Hunter said Saturday.

“We will not pay for something we have not received,” Hunter said.

Kendall said imposing further financial penalties on Lockheed Martin would likely do little to incentivize the company to complete TR-3 more quickly.

“I don’t think Lockheed is trying to not deliver,” Kendall said. “There’s a lot of motivation. It’s in the program. They want to get this done.”